Optus
Australia's second-largest telco. Mobile, broadband, and enterprise services.
Reported Offshore Headcount
4,000+
reported 1 Jan 2019
Estimated % of Workforce
~36.4%
illustrative, not directly reported by the company
Destination Countries
Financial Context
Estimated Wage Differential
~$340M/yr
CEO: Stephen Rue
$3,100,000
40x avg Australian worker
Estimate uses avg AU employment cost of $110,000+/yr (incl. super and on-costs) vs offshore $25,000/yr (salary + on-costs). Actual figures vary by role, seniority, and location.
In Plain English
- In 2019, Optus was reported to have 4,000+ offshore contractors and staff.
- This represents ~36.4% when compared to its current workforce of 11,000 (illustrative comparison only, not directly reported by the company).
- Known outsourcing partners include Tech Mahindra, Concentrix.
- 1,920 Australian jobs have been cut.
Based on data from public sources at the dates reported. Figures may not reflect current headcount. See sources below for full attribution.
The Story
- Correction, October 2026Two corrections. This page said an internal review of the November 2023 nationwide outage found offshore call centre staff failed to escalate warnings. That finding belongs to a different incident, the Triple Zero outage of 18 September 2025, and the entry has been replaced with that one. Separately, the 4,000 offshore figure was recorded against India alone and dated January 2025. It comes from a single report of 19 May 2020 giving “around 4000 offshore staff” across three BPO partners in India and the Philippines, so it is a six-year-old combined total for two countries rather than a current Indian headcount. The percentage was wrong too: 4,000 vendor staff against Optus's roughly 7,000 employees read as 57%, which compares a vendor's payroll to Optus's own. The denominator is now 11,000, direct plus indirect, giving 36%. [Offshore Watch correction]
- February 2026: RESHORINGOptus announced it will expand headcount from approximately 6,800 to 7,500 over the next 12 months, driven in large part by insourcing call-centre work currently performed in Chennai. Nokia operates roughly 3,000 staff at the Chennai centre on behalf of Optus; ~300 of those Optus-handling roles will return to Australia, with 100 already moved. Network management is to be brought back in-house from Nokia by May 2027. CEO Stephen Rue: "This has to be obviously done carefully ... you've got to train people onshore, you've got to have your systems in place." [iTnews]
- February 2026Optus announced 200–300 role cuts after September 2025 Triple Zero outage. Separately, the company added 450 staff to its Australian call-centre operations focused on Triple Zero and vulnerable customers. Net headcount still set to grow by ~700 over 12 months. [iTnews]
- September 2025The outage that put offshoring at the centre of the story was the one on 18 September 2025, which ran for close to 14 hours and took out Triple Zero for hundreds of calls across four states and territories. It has been linked to two deaths. The independent review by Kerry Schott found the failure was caused in part by errors in the telco's outsourced network management team, and that offshore contact centre staff repeatedly failed to pass on warnings: as many as five calls were made raising concerns about Triple Zero early that morning and none were escalated internally. Schott found significant gaps in process, accountability, escalation and information protocols. Optus accepted all 21 recommendations, which include a compulsory escalation process whenever a customer reports a Triple Zero outage, and onboarding new onshore contact centre roles. [The Daily Aus]
- 2022Optus suffered Australia's second-largest data breach, exposing 9.8 million customers' personal data including passport and licence numbers. CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigned. The breach was linked to a coding error in an API endpoint. [ABC News]
- May 2020Optus spent three years setting common standards across its offshore contact centre operations in India and the Philippines, with three BPO partners and collectively around 4,000 offshore staff handling Australian customer calls. This is still the only published number for Optus's offshore workforce, and it is the one this site counts. Note what it is: a combined total for both countries, not India's alone, and the staff belong to the BPO partners rather than to Optus. [iTnews]
- 2016Optus confirmed it would outsource operations inside its internal HR and finance teams, and spend the following 12 months working out which jobs to hand to a third party. It was in talks with business process outsourcing suppliers, reported as Accenture for the finance work and Infosys for HR. Optus said no vendor arrangements were final and that the program was not expected to cause redundancies for at least a year. One stated aim was better data and analytics out of the back office. The company had cut more than 2,000 roles since 2012. [iTnews]
- 2016Optus cut 320 staff across its consumer, enterprise, wholesale and sales divisions. [iTnews]
- 2012Optus proposed making approximately 750 roles redundant over the following months, with the majority coming from senior and middle management, operations, back office and support functions. [SmartCompany]
All facts sourced from public reporting. No editorial commentary. Click source links to verify.
Offshoring Timeline
| Date | Department | Country | Headcount | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 May 2020 | Call Centre | 🇵🇭 Philippines | — | Confirmed |
| 19 May 2020 | Call Centre | 🇮🇳 India | — | Confirmed |
| 26 Feb 2026 | Call Centre | 🇵🇭 Philippines | — | Confirmed |
Layoff Events
| Date | Headcount | Location | Department | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Feb 2026 | 200 | Australia | technology | Optus cutting 200 jobs after data breach and network outage. |
| 26 Oct 2017 | 170 | Australia | IT | Optus outsourced network management to Nokia, 170 staff made redundant. |
| 27 Apr 2017 | 320 | Australia | technology | Optus cut 320 staff, warned of more cuts. Has cut 480 in 2016, 350 in 2014, 750 in 2012, 180 in 2011. |
| 1 Apr 2016 | 480 | Australia | technology | Optus cut 480 jobs across consumer, enterprise, wholesale and sales divisions. Has cut more than 2,000 roles since 2012. |
| 2 May 2012 | 750 | Australia | technology | Optus cut 750 jobs after internal review. Sources reported over 1,000 could be cut. |
Consultancy Engagements
| Vendor | Type | Contract Value | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tech Mahindra | Outsourced Dev | — Multi-year partnership building Unified Data Platform with Microsoft and Databricks. Staff co-located at Optus Sydney campus. | Confirmed |
| Concentrix | BPO | — | Confirmed |
Other Telecommunications Companies That Offshore
Other companies in telecommunications with reported offshore operations.
| Company | ASX | Reported Offshore | Offshore Destinations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telstra | TLS | 12,228+ | 🇮🇳 India🇵🇭 Philippines🇻🇳 Vietnam🇬🇧 UK |
| TPG Telecom | TPG | 2,950+ | 🇮🇳 India🇵🇭 Philippines🇿🇦 South Africa |
What Public Sources Say
All information below is sourced from publicly available documents and reporting. Excerpts are direct quotes. Click source links to verify.
“Optus built Unified Data Platform with Tech Mahindra, Microsoft, Databricks. Multi-year partnership. Staff co-located at Optus Sydney campus.”
“Optus spent three years setting common standards and metrics across its offshore contact centre operations in India and the Philippines, spanning three BPO partners with collectively around 4,000 offshore staff handling Australian customer calls.”
“Optus spent three years setting common standards across its offshore contact centre operations in India and the Philippines, with three BPO partners and collectively around 4,000 offshore staff.”
“Optus spent three years setting common standards and metrics across its offshore contact centre operations in India and the Philippines, spanning three BPO partners with collectively around 4,000 offshore staff handling Australian customer calls.”
“Optus outsourced network management to Nokia, 170 staff made redundant.”
“Optus cut 320 staff, warned of more cuts. Has cut 480 in 2016, 350 in 2014, 750 in 2012, 180 in 2011.”
“Optus cut 480 jobs across consumer, enterprise, wholesale and sales divisions. Has cut more than 2,000 roles since 2012.”
“Optus cut 750 jobs after internal review. Sources reported over 1,000 could be cut.”
Additional Sources
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This list is not complete, and never will be
If a company isn't listed here, that doesn't mean it doesn't offshore. And every number is the lowest we can prove, so the real figures can often be higher.
Read whyShow less
This list is not complete, and never will be
If a company isn't listed here, that doesn't mean it doesn't offshore. And every number is the lowest we can prove, so the real figures can often be higher.
This started as an ASX 200 project and mostly still is. It has widened as stories landed from outside that list, so it now also covers employers that aren't ASX-listed, like Canva, Allianz Australia, SS&C and Crown Resorts, along with government departments and agencies. Companies get added when something surfaces about them, not by working through a list in order.
Australian companies are under no obligation to disclose where their work is done, and there is no register of offshored jobs. Everything here comes from something that surfaced publicly: an annual report, a modern slavery statement, a news article, a union statement, a government contract, or a tip from someone who was there.
So an absence usually means nobody has reported on that company and we haven't got to it yet, not that it keeps its work onshore. Some of the biggest offshorers say nothing at all. And because each figure counts only what a source actually stated, the real numbers can often run higher, sometimes much higher.
Every figure links to the source it came from, so you can judge it yourself rather than take our word for it. If you know something that is missing or wrong, tell us. Corrections are published, not quietly buried.
This profile reflects public information at the time of publication and may not match current operations. Is something wrong or missing about Optus? Submit a correction. We welcome input from companies, employees, and researchers.